The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1887-12-16

narily, / was not in the mood to like
any body after having seen Rose Thorn.
ton-for that was the name of the
young woman who took me home from
Che shop-and, secondly, and especial.
", Beauclerc aroused my indignation
by the careless manner in which he
received me
"Ahl" he exclaimed, pleasantly,
looking at the envelopes superscrip.
ton, from Rose
But when he had ripped my environ.
ment open, and produced me, he said,
with little laugh that was nearly re,
lated to sheer:
what q girl she is! She's the best
| girl that ever lived; but what in the
world put it into her romantic little
head to send such fanciful little thing
as this to me? She might as appro-
priately have sent me cookbook or a
treatise on the art of millinery. How
ever, she probably thought what
pleased her ought to please me. It's
pretty enough, as such things go, and,
OF course, | must treasure it for the
giver's sake"
With that he replaced me in the en-
velope, crumpling me not a little in the
operation, and then threw me into the
very untidy drawer of his dressing-
case, where | had tho disagreeable
companionship of soiled linen, two or
three pipes, bag of tobacco, half box
OF cigars, combs, brushes, dogs -eared
novels, and, in short, decidedly mis-
cellaneous collection of odds and ends.
My life was now wretched in the ex-
IRENE. was surrounded by an as
sortment of smells which even at this
distant day sickens me to contemplate.
After my brief sojourn in the delicately
perfumed boudoir of Rose Thornton, it
was unbearable. But this was not all.
Every time Beauclerc opened the
drawer in search of some thing or
other, no matter what-it might be his
pipe or dirty collar-he turned every
thing topsy-turvey; the consequence
was that was knocked about in q
most disagreeable manner, until pre-
sented sadly dilapidated appearance.
1t hurt my feelings to be treAted thus,
you may easily believe; but what
grieved me most was the insult to
Rose. How could he treat any thing
coming from her fair hands as he
treated me was past my comprehen-
sion. It was maddening, and l believe
actually hated Beauclerc with all the
venom that was possible in Christmas
card.
But the worst was yet to come. MY
new possessor, [ found, had trio of
boon companions, wild, rollicking fell
lows, but nowiSe vicious, who repaired
regularly to Charities room, where
they made night of it, playing at
cards, smoking strong pipes, and oc-
casionally kissing the mouth of sus-
picious looking flask of squat stature.
OF course, the cards, the pipes and the
flask was all housed IN the drawer with
me. remember the first time Beau
clerc's friends called after my arrival.
There was q call for pipes, and the
usual overturn took place, this time
four pairs of hands being engaged in
the operation. HSS# #
"Hello!' exclaimed the fellow they
called Tom, bouncing upon me, whats
thisp"
I was torn from my envelope in a
twinkle, and all three of the chaps
were staring at me as though they
would stare me out of countenance.
From some woman, I'll be sworn"
cried Tom.
"Who is shePn said Bill.
Come, name hcr!' exclaimed Jack.
"Oh, come along!" said Charles inn
patiently; Il thought you wanted to
have g game - -.
"The villainr' thought L. she's ac-.
tually ashamed Of her. Ashamed of
herr" A
But his friends were not to be bought
off. "'Twon't do, old man." said
Jack, leering at me, the brute!
"Twon't do. Name the fair I'M
knownr .-. ... ..
"Oh, it's nobody but a silly girl who
got mashed on me on. seeing me once.
I'm not going to tell you her name, but
it's no consequence, anyhow. Nobody
| care any thing about; never saw her
but once, and never expect to see her
again. The little goose sent me this,
and-well, had to send her ten-dol-
lar present in Exchange. Exchange is
no robbery, eh?-ten dollars for twen-
ty-five. cents-no robbery, oh, no"
| would not have believed, notwith-
standing l hated him, that Beauclerc
could be so mean. 1t was bad enough
to be ashamed of Rose Thornton, the
precious, and to lie about her; but to
accuse her of being mercenary was
adding insult to injury. with ven-
geance.
"Oh, WE'LL" said Tom, ''as you don't
care any thing about it, give it to me.
IL VIII oFtNO iiio ONtS Ii oAio' iiO4 . ~
girl down our way who sent me pair
of slippers last Christmas. I'll send
her this. She'll never know that it
didn't come fresh from the store, after
it's deodorized and put in another en-
velope.
Beauclerc didn't take kindly to this
proposition. He was evidently an
noyed. His brows were knit, his nos
trils dilated, and there was pinched
look about the mouth and chin. He
reached .out his hand to snatch me
from Toms grasp. But his pride
proved stronger than his honor. He
withdrew the outstretched hand, seized
pipe, and seating himself at the Ia
BILE, began shutting the cards in a ter
ribly clumsy fashion, and wanted to
know if they were ever going to get
ready to play
Tom showed me into his breast pocket
where l had a couple of cigars for
company, but / didn't mind it much
after my experience in the drawer
ap6 all four bnual, tho -eama